Fuel efficiency has long been a high priority among industry and governments. Many modifications to engine technology are purely driven by fuel efficiency. These technical improvements include tighter manufacturing tolerances in the piston and cylinder, better materials for piston rings, hardened valves, better timing of the valve train and better recirculation of exhaust gases.
Fuel has also been improved for better fuel efficiency. Better blends and compositions of fuel have been developed. For over a hundred years petroleum has been cracked, distilled and blended to provide better octane ratings and improve combustion burn. Many of these improvements involve blending different gasoline grades and fuel additives. The fuel additives have been added for several different purposes, including changing the octane rating, removing old deposits and reducing new deposits from internal engine components, promoting longer life of the valves and for stabilizing the gasoline for longer storage. Some of these additives such as tetraethyl lead have since fallen out of favor due in part to the detrimental toxic effects of accumulating amounts of tetraethyl lead in the environment. The adoption of catalytic converters which are incompatible with lead has also greatly further diminished the use of lead as an additive. Hardened valve seats and upgraded exhaust valve materials have been introduced to compensate for the elimination of lead as an additive.
There is great development in nanodiamond materials technology. The applications for nanodiamonds have been applied as additives to oils for lubrication purposes, dry lubricants in the metal industry, reinforcing fillers for plastic and rubber, and as an additive to electroplating electrolytes. Nanodiamonds have also been used for lapping and polishing. The use of nanodiamonds as an additive to engine lubricant, i.e. oil or a synthetic, introduces the nanodiamonds into the engine via the path of the engine lubricant to the crankshaft side of the piston and piston rings. Some thin lubricant films containing nanodiamonds may then pass by the piston rings into the combustion chamber. While nanodiamonds primary crystals are produced under 10 nm in size, they tend to agglomerate after formation to particle exceeding 10 nm.
What is needed is a fuel additive having nanodiamonds that increases fuel mileage, improves fuel ignition and combustion burn, cleans valve trains and decreases wear and tear on engine parts while it reduces the toxic effects of additives on the environment. What is also needed is nonagglomerated nanodiamonds that are introduced into an engine as a fuel additive through the fuel system, for example, a fuel injector or carburetor and into the combustion chamber from an origin on the combustion side of the piston.